Photovoltaic modules use a plurality of photovoltaic cells to produce electricity using the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic cells may be manufactured in a variety of ways, however the use of semiconductor wafers to manufacture photovoltaic cells or the use of thin semiconductor films deposited upon a substrate are common methods of manufacturing photovoltaic modules. The use of silicon for the semiconductor is also very common.
A difficulty that many types of photovoltaic modules have is that as the temperature of the photovoltaic module increases its efficiency decreases.